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I don't know if this ever happened but the storms were pretty bad last night. The last report I heard before the power went out was a tornado warning for Williamston heading north. That's in the general direction of Merchants.

I haven't seen the news reports yet but I hear it tore Lowes in Sanford to pieces with people inside and while there's not a lot of damage near me the power is STILL out even to big chain restaurants along the highway. That really only happens on this side of the state if there's been a hurricane.

We ended up staying. Once we got out there Friday night our communications were cut off as far as cell phones, etc.
The first rain hit us just at about 7 and was a heavy downpour with sustained winds. We knew that once 6:30 hit we were stuck there for the duration. As the first pass cleared us one of the guys in our group had an emergency radio and he caught the reports on the Tornado and the lives it had taken and some of the preliminary devastation tolls. That was a sobering moment.

Thankfully our group, was okay. Us two hangers stayed dry, and the two in tents were fine as well. There was a father and son tent camping at site #1 and they fared well also. The canoe trip back was beautiful and the winds weren't nearly as prevalent as the day before.

2 and 3 were unoccupied and nothing special. If I recall correctly 4 had a couple of trees but little promise.

We stayed at site 5 and there were two solid spots that shared one tree on the left as you enter the site. There was one more that was a little tight but feasable depending on your set up on the right side near the fire pit.

6 I honestly didn't get a look at maybe my friend can chime in on what it looked like.

7,8, and 9 are bad...no trees at all. The path to the vault toilet is part of your actual site footprint on 8. 7 had maybe 1 tree. 9 looked like some loggers dropped a couple trees and just left it there. It's another one that hugs the path.

10 looked like it had a ton of options and was right on the waters edge. It is actually just to the right of the canoe landing, out of site. But it has a lot of CLEAR shore line for landing canoes.
When I called for reservations the girl with NC State Parks said," Open the park map and you can see which ones are where..." Uh, NO...you can't. it shows a shore line and that is it.
I am curious what the group sites offered. The palce is great but there is a TON of new growth in the area that is so thick you can see other hanging options but all of the small saplings are just in the way.